VATICAN CITY — The Vatican’s Council for Culture is promoting its first science festival, which will be held in Owerri, Nigeria, this Friday to May 2.

(CNS file/Karen Callaway, Catholic New World)

The aim of the festival is to open up young people, families, and adults to the joys and wonders of science and technology, organizers said at a Vatican press conference today.

Exhibits will be hands-on, interactive and won’t rely on electricity to get them working — so power outages won’t present any problems. Sections will include experiments with and instruction on energy, the environment, health and nutrition, and music.

The initiative has been organized by the City of Science in Naples, a Rome-based association of Nigerian and Italian university students, the Rome Diocese’s pastoral office for universities, and the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Organizers say this is just the first step of a long-term plan to create a permanent science center in Owerri.

The Vatican council’s press release said:

Science and technology are also indispensable for sustainable development in Africa.

In Africa, scientific instruction and education in schools is not enough to foster curiosity about science and get the wider public involved.

Science and technology are indispensable tools for empowering people and should be supported with efforts that promote curiosity toward science and the intelligent use of technology.